Adventures in Rhubarb Brandy

[JustinNZ]

It’s been 8 years since the last Rhubarb post so I thought I’d start afresh. Many will know rhubarb wine is easy to make and generally delicious (like Riesling) but for two years now I’ve tried and largely failed to get that sweet fruit flavour to survive pot distillation. It drives me crazy because (very) drinkable rhubarb brandy is my number one goal, as it grows so well in NZ.

I’ve tried one and done, double distillation, and modifying with macerated rhubarb syrup but no matter what, an underlying stalkyness spoils the party. To be fair, it’s kinda drinkable if you can drink anything - and after a year in glass the white has a good body. But that amazing rhubarb aroma and flavour from the wine vanishes in my brandies.

I’ve made a 25L wash with over ten kg of fresh ripe rhubarb and 5kg sugar, but even that ratio didn’t produce the goods. So now I’ve got 6L aging at 50% on med toasted seasoned American oak. Based on sneak testing it’s smoothing out and sweetening up in a classic, aged on oak way. So I think it will be nice, but not immediately recognisable as rhubarby.

I use a Copperhead 25L potstill with a 1000/2000w switchable concealed element. I haven’t yet tried proofing with just rhubarb wine. I will this summer. But I’m just hooked on the idea of 100% distillate.

I’m having fun and hopefully one day I’ll nail it.

[NZChris]

A common culprit for lack of flavor is adding too much sugar.

I've never fermented rhubarb, but if I did, I would run the rhubarb through a juicer, adjust the Brix to no more than 16, (SG 1.064), with sugar, ferment, then double distill with a pot still.

[EricTheRed]

I've done a few. Problem is there is precious little sugar in rhubarb.
Last one i did was 15kg chopped rhubarb, with dextrose instead of sugar sprnkled on each layer of chopped rhubarb. Let it sit for 24 to 30 hours.
Added just enough water to top up to 30 L in a 50L fermenter.
Distillers yeast and some nutrient. Fermented on the fruit.
After fermentation wash tasted really good and rhubarby.
Ran it through the big pot and the final spirit on a 5L alembic.
Flavour was now meh.

It's a fragile flavour. Works very well as wine. Wife loves it.
But as a brandy it takes most of its flavour from the wood.

Next one I'm going to age white and see what happens.

[JustinNZ]

Thanks Chris and Eric. I should have added I usually macerate the crap out of the rhubarb before topping up with water and fermenting, but I have also tried boiling it. Same results. It’s true the % of sugar in rhubarb is very low, and that’s probably the clincher. I will try a lower sugar version this summer just to see if that helps - it’s not a time-consuming process.

I’m a Pálinka fan, and taking a bottle of something exotic over to the rellies in Hungary would be cool. I realise they don’t, strictly speaking, use sugar over there (unless the fruit isn’t ripe) but the rhubarb doesn’t play ball with that idea. Maybe a blend with apple or pear could be worthwhile? Hang on… that would eliminate the sugar factor. Ok - sorted.

[NZChris]

How you go about doing the stripping and spirit runs can make a big difference with hard to capture fruit. You don't want to be chucking out valuable flavors with the foreshot and backset and the hearts should be chosen by tasting sample blends, not by cutting on the fly or tasting individual jars.

[JustinNZ]

What should I do with the backset?

[NZChris]

Kill weeds